Electronically signing documents using electronic signatures

ABSTRACT

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for providing an electronic document processing system, an electronic document generation mechanism, an encrypted digital certificate generator, a tool for coordinating the processing of electronic documents, a packaging mechanism for finalizing and authenticating electronic documents, a tracking log for recording relevant electronic document information, and a transferring protocol for transferring the ownership of electronic documents. The present disclosure also is directed to an electronic authentication system including an electronic document authentication watermark seal or signature line for confirming a document&#39;s signing within the view. The present disclosure also is directed to a system, software program, and method for generating electronic documents, coordinating the signing of electronic documents, digitally authenticating and certifying electronic documents, and organizing electronic documents for retrieval and transfer in a mortgage closing and/or other financial services application.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 17/135,003, entitled “Digitally Signing ElectronicDocuments Using Digital Signatures,” now U.S. Pat. No. 11,538,122, whichis incorporated by referenced in its entirety; and which is acontinuation-in-part of and claims priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/407,181 filed on Jan. 16, 2017, entitled “Digitally SigningElectronic Documents Using Digital Signatures,” now U.S. Pat. No.10,880,093, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety; andwhich is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/330,607, filed on Jul. 14, 2014, entitled“Digitally Signing Electronic Documents Using a Digital Signature,” nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,547,879, which is incorporated by reference in itsentirety; and which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/892,284, filed on May 12, 2013, entitled“Paperless Mortgage Closings,” now U.S. Pat. No. 8,781,976, which isincorporated by reference in its entirety; and which is a continuationof and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/419,539,filed on Mar. 14, 2012, entitled “Paperless Mortgage Closings,” now U.S.Pat. No. 8,442,920, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety;and which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/911,471, filed on Oct. 25, 2010, entitled“Paperless Mortgage Closings,” now U.S. Pat. No. 8,140,440, which isincorporated by reference in its entirety; and which is a continuationof and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/037,505,filed Jan. 18, 2005, entitled “Paperless Process for Mortgage Closingsand Other Applications,” now U.S. Pat. No. 7,822,690, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety; and which claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) to U.S. Prov. Pat. App. No.60/543,148, filed Feb. 10, 2004, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of electronicdocument processing systems. More particularly, the present disclosurerelates to systems and methods for generating electronic documents,signing electronic documents, and digitally authenticating andcertifying electronic documents.

BACKGROUND

The mortgage closing process is traditionally very paper intensive andtedious. Borrowers must affix wet signatures to many, many documents andlenders subsequently must physically copy, distribute, register andstore the signed documents.

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) haslaid the foundation for paperless, electronic mortgages by defining theSMART Document specification. SMART is an acronym for Securable,Manageable, Archivable, Retrievable, and Transferable. Thespecification, based on XML, is a general-purpose, flexible technologythat can be used to implement any paper document in electronic format.It binds together the data, page view, audit trail and signature(s) intoa single electronic file. The page view may be XHTML or PDF.

Other enabling/foundational industry breakthroughs include eSignaturesand the eNote Registry. The National eNote Registry is an electronicmechanism for identifying, tracking and verifying electronic promissorynotes (eNotes) in a manner compliant with requirements imposed by theUniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) and the federal ElectronicSignatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN). UETA and ESIGNstipulate that the owner of an eNote (the Controller) has legal rightssimilar to those that a “Holder in Due Course” has with a papernegotiable promissory note. Moreover, ESIGN stipulates that eSignaturesbear the same weight legally as wet signatures. Rounding out the eNoteRegistry are eCustodians or eVaults. Since the eNote Registry does notactually store the eNotes, proprietary electronic custodial repositoriesmust exist to store and manage eNotes.

The mortgage closing process and other such financial transactions aretraditionally paper intensive and tedious. Parties to the transactionmust affix wet signatures to many documents, and these documents mustsubsequently be copied, distributed, registered, and securely stored.

The tedious nature of financial transactions opens the possibility forerrors and discrepancies to occur. The necessity for each party to atransaction to sign multiple documents allows for differences in thesignatures, which can give rise to dispute. For instance, a single partycan sign one document ‘John Smith,’ another document ‘John A. Smith,’another document ‘J. Smith,’ and yet another document ‘J.S.’ Becausethere is no way to ensure the uniformity of signatures or the terms ofpaper documents, the validity of these documents can be subject toquestion.

Furthermore, developments in digital imaging, photography, and imagecapture have created new opportunities for document tampering andcounterfeiting. Paper documents can now be manipulated and tamperedwith, and such modifications are often difficult, if impossible, todetect. Signature forgery has also become widespread, further callinginto question the validity of paper documents. Because such tampering ispossible, an alternative to paper documents and wet signatures ispreferred, to provide a more secure and efficient method of preparing,signing, and certifying documents.

The authenticity of hard documents can also be called into question whenthese documents have changed hands a number of times. Banks and otherlending institutions frequently buy and sell mortgage agreements, andthe value of these agreements can only be guaranteed inasmuch as theagreements can be shown to be authentic documents. A tracking system istherefore necessary, which securely tracks the ownership of a documentfrom the moment it is signed.

Kishore, Nanda (United States Patent Publication No. 2004/0049445)appears to disclose a financial services automation system forautomating financial transactions. However, Kishore does not impose atime limit on the signing process. Kishore does not allow for thescanning of outside documents, their conversion into digital format, andthe insertion of digital signature lines. Additionally, Kishore does notallow for a second authentication and certification step at theculmination of the signing process, and the destruction of the documentsif the process is not completed. Lastly, Kishore does not teach awatermark imprint or signature line that appears on all certifieddocuments, confirming their signing.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to concepts and technologies forproviding electronic mortgage closings and other transactions. Accordingto various embodiments, the systems disclosed herein are configured tocoordinate and manage a mortgage closing process, to facilitate digitalsigning of documents, to package the electronic documents, and toregister the signed documents electronically with the MortgageElectronic Registration System. The present disclosure is directed toprocesses, computer systems and software for performing the paperlessclosing process. The embodiments disclosed herein may work in concertwith a pre-existing eVault, if desired, though this is not necessarilythe case. Although the disclosed example relates specifically tolender-borrower relationships, it will be apparent to those of skill inthe art that the concepts and technologies disclosed herein areapplicable to other transactions and contract situations, includingother types of loans for other types of purchases, settlementnegotiations, and other agreements, particularly those benefiting from asequential signature process. In one contemplated embodiment, theconcepts and technologies disclosed herein can be used to effect signingof documents for a loan approval or credit approval process (e.g.,authorizing credit checks, accepting terms, or the like). In some otherembodiments, the concepts and technologies disclosed herein can be usedto process electronic transfers of funds (e.g., money) or other assets(e.g., credit, bitcoins or other cryptocurrency, or the like), and thussigning a document may be part of a transaction for transferring fundsor other assets (e.g., money, credit, bitcoins or other cryptocurrency,or the like) from a first account to a second account. It should beunderstood that these examples are illustrative, and therefore shouldnot be construed as being limiting in any way.

According to one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure includean electronic document processing system including electronic documentgeneration means, means for generating digital certificates,organization means for coordinating the processing of digital documents,packaging means for finalizing and authenticating digital documents,tracking means for recording relevant document information, andtransferring means for transferring the ownership of digital documents.According to other aspects, embodiments of the present disclosureinclude a secure system, software program, and method for generatingelectronic documents, coordinating the secure signing of said documents,digitally authenticating and certifying said documents, and organizingsaid documents for secure retrieval and transfer in the mortgageclosing/financial services field.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include a method for documentprocessing including the steps of: generating documents, generatingdigital certificates, organizing and managing digital certificates,organizing and coordinating the processing of documents, packaging andauthenticating documents, logging relevant document information, andtransferring the ownership of documents.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intendedthat this Summary be used to limit the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited toimplementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part ofthis disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrated aspects of the electronic closingprocess, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 1A is a flow diagram illustrating additional aspects of theelectronic closing process, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrated aspects of a logical applicationarchitecture, software components, and relationships therebetween,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a logical applicationarchitecture, software components, and relationships therebetween,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of document viewrendering, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a graphical representation illustrating aspects of a ‘CreateSigning Space’ user interface, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen associatedwith a Signer Manager, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of a DocumentManager, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a graphical representation illustrating aspects of a ‘SigningSpace’ user interface, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of a DocumentSigning, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer screen of a Document Repository Manager,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a computer screen displaying an exemplary library ofdocument sets viewed by the Document Repository Manager, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of a PackageManager, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of a SigningSpace Login, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of a LegalNotice and Confidentiality Page, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of a DocumentSigning, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary view of a computer screen of DocumentSigning, according to another exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates aspects of a user approval screen, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates aspects of an Affidavit used to allow electronicdisclosure and to allow a signer to sign an electronic record, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown byway of illustration specific embodiments or examples. It must beunderstood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of theconcepts and technologies disclosed herein. The concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein may be embodied in various and alternativeforms, and/or in various combinations of the embodiments disclosedherein. The word “exemplary,” as used in the specification, is usedexpansively to refer to embodiments that serve as an illustration,specimen, model or pattern.

Additionally, it should be understood that the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, and that some features may be exaggerated orminimized to show details of particular components. In other instances,well-known components, systems, materials or methods have not beendescribed in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed hereinare not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for theclaims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the artto variously employ the present disclosure. Referring now to thedrawings, in which like numerals represent like elements throughout theseveral figures, aspects of intumescent swell devices will be presented.

FIG. 1 describes a process in which a paperless closing can be conductedvia software for implementing aspects of an exemplary embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment, participants in theexemplary process include borrowers, a lender/broker, and a closingagent. It should be understood that this embodiment is exemplary, andshould not be construed as being limiting in any way.

Prior to executing the signing process, borrower(s) obtain digitalcertificate(s), necessary for certifying identity, from a certificateauthority, such as Verisign®. The certificates may optionally beobtained automatically on behalf of the borrower(s). The lender/brokerprepares closing electronic documents (note and mortgage) and storesthem on the eVault where they are converted to SMART Doc format. Thelender/broker then creates a signing environment for the electronicdocuments, where the electronic document signing order is establishedand signing accounts are created for borrower(s) and closing agent. SeeFIG. 4 . A borrower's digital certificate and encrypted private key,whether obtained by the borrower or by the document processing systemdisclosed herein, can be stored on the eVault with respective electronicdocuments.

According to various embodiments, two software components, Quill andInkwell, collaborate to perform the electronic document signings duringthe signing phase of the document signing process. According to someembodiments, Quill and Inkwell function as a client and server,respectively.

According to various implementations, one or more borrowers log into thesigning environment with credentials. The credentials can be establishedand provided by the lender/broker. If there is more than one borrower,each borrower and the closing agent may be required to log in before theelectronic document signing environment is activated and/or presented.Participants associated with the closing are not required to be at thesame computer and/or location.

Upon activation of the signing environment, borrowers can be presentedwith legal disclosures and or warning. The borrowers may be allowed toacknowledge understanding of the legally binding nature of theelectronic transactions. Each borrower can be prompted to enter a passphrase or respective key or access information, which can be used tosign each electronic document.

The signing environment can be configured to visually convey statesthroughout the process, as shown in FIG. 5 . A state can includeindications as to active participants, active electronic documents,signed states of each electronic document, currently available actions,and the like.

Each borrower, in turn, can be prompted to sign the active electronicdocument by clicking his or her respective signing button. According tosome implementations, a borrower may not be allowed to sign theelectronic document until all pages have been viewed. Once all pages areviewed, the electronic document hash is computed and encrypted with theborrower's private key (the signature). Inkwell applies the borrower'ssignature to the SMART Doc and updates the audit trail when a borrowersigns an electronic document. According to some embodiments, Quillpresents the next electronic document to be signed only after allborrowers have signed the active electronic document. Quill can beconfigured to update the view of the signed electronic documents toindicate that the electronic documents have been signed.

After the electronic documents have been signed, each borrower canconfirm acceptance of the transaction, and the closing agent canacknowledge participation with an electronic signature, thus concludingthe signing session. Thereafter, Inkwell packages SMART Docs into anarchive file and signs the archive with the private key of a serverdigital certificate. According to various implementations, Inkwellregisters the eNote with the eRegistry.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 , a logical software architecture of thepresent disclosure can include a client component, Quill, and two servercomponents, Inkwell and eVault. Implicit in the architecture are thehosting computer platforms for the components of various embodiments ofthe present disclosure. On the client side a computer system equippedwith a web browser can be used. Examples of suitable operating systemsand/or web browsers include, but are not limited to, the MICROSOFTWINDOWS family of operations systems and the MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORERfamily of web browsers from Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Wash.,Mandrake Linux 9.2 with Konqueror 3.0, the APPLE MACOS and/or LEOPARD OSfamilies of operating systems and the SAFARI family of web browsers,form Apple, Inc. in Cupertino, Calif., web- and mobile-based operatingsystems and web browsers, and the like.

According to some embodiments, the web browser supports extensibility toallow various functionality associated with Quill. While FIG. 2 suggestsJava applet technology for Quill implementation, other technologies,such as ActiveX technology from MICROSOFT, could be used. While ActiveXhas in the past been limited to Windows and Internet Explorer, it willbe appreciated that various technologies can be used with moderndevices. The web browser should also support secure communications suchas SSL to ensure the security and integrity of the signing session.Server platform considerations, in the context of contemporary servertechnology, also may take into account performance, capacity andscalability. Beyond basic server operating system features, some minimumrequirements may include an off-the-shelf HTTP server that supports SSLand extensibility via CGI or other mechanisms. While FIG. 2 implies thatInkwell and eVault reside on a single server computer, this is notnecessarily the case. Example server platforms include Linux with Apache2.0 web; Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with IIS 6.0, and/or otherplatforms.

The client side user interface, aside from Quill, can be implementedwith any web development technology. According to various embodiments,the client side user interface is implemented via HTML or XHTML outputfor web browser rendering. Potential implementations are plain HTML,CGI, PHP and Java Servlets.

Quill, as a separate client side component, is introduced to manage thePDF view of SMART Docs, potentially create digital signatures, andoptionally manage uploading of borrower digital certificates.Maintaining the SMART Doc view as PDF is preferred since a) electronicdocuments begin as PDF (electronic document preparation stage), b) PDFin the past has not converted easily to HTML, and c) in the past, HTMLwas not consistently displayed across browsers. Quill also communicatesdirectly with Inkwell to appropriately convey the state of the SMART Docto application users and to apply signatures to electronic documents.The preferred embodiment of Quill is Java Applet technology, whichimposes few limitations on the choice of client platform and providesthe most control over the presentation of the SMART Doc PDF view.Commercial and open source Java libraries for managing PDF files arewidely available. Alternative embodiments for Quill include Microsoft'sActiveX technology and Adobe's Acrobat Reader Plug-in technology. Theformer imposes platform limitations. The latter limits control over thePDF and communication with Inkwell.

Through the browser based user interface, the lender/broker creates andmanages the signing environment (see FIG. 4 ) and borrowers review andsign electronic documents (see FIG. 5 ). However, besides the PDF view,all application views can be controlled by the server component,Inkwell. As such, multiple browser instances may participate in a singlesigning session, hence participants need not be co-located.

Inkwell's responsibilities include: creating and deleting signingenvironments, managing the signing environment state, controlling thesigning environment view, controlling access to the signing environment,retrieving electronic documents from eVault, managing borrower digitalcertificates, applying signatures to SMART Docs, maintaining SMART Docaudit trails, maintaining SMART Doc state, collaborating with Quill,packaging signed electronic documents and registering SMART Docs withthe eNote Registry. Inkwell's preferred embodiment is a combination ofJava JSPs, servlets and POJO (plain old java objects).

The eVault component provides a secure repository for SMART Docs anddigital certificates. In some embodiments, eVault conforms to opencommunication protocols, such as WebDAV, to facilitate and simplifyinterfacing with external systems and web browsers. Inkwell'sintegration with eVault via WebDAV offers the greatest flexibility interms of how and where eVault is implemented and deployed, althoughalternatives could include a) Java APIs assuming eVault is implementedwith Java and runs in the same JVM as Inkwell b) Java RMI, againassuming that eVault is implemented with Java and c) web services orother implementation agnostic RPC.

In collaborating with Quill, Inkwell responds to requests for electronicdocuments and communicates electronic document state changes to Quill.Moreover, Inkwell responds to requests from Quill to apply signatures.If Quill and Inkwell are both implemented with Java (preferredembodiment), they communicate via RMI tunneled over HTTPS; alternativesinclude HTTP GET, HTTP POST and web services.

According to various implementations, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)technology is used for creating the digital signatures. As such, aborrower's digital certificate can include a separate private key. Theprivate key and digital certificate (CA signed public key) can be storedin the eVault along with the electronic documents. The private key ispassword protected. At least two alternatives exist for creatingelectronic document signatures. In one embodiment, Quill computes theelectronic document hash and encrypts it with the borrower's private keyand then sends the signature to Inkwell to apply to the SMART Doc. Inthis fashion, Inkwell need never have possession of the private keypassword and there is no question of trust. Quill, however, will requireadditional code libraries and will be much larger thus requiringadditional time to download to the client. Alternatively, Quill can sendthe private key password to Inkwell and Inkwell computes the electronicdocument hash, encrypts with the private key and applies to the SMARTDoc.

Once electronic documents are signed, Inkwell registers them with theeNote Registry. Integration with the MERS eNote Registry requiresfirewall-to-firewall VPN over the Internet or a dedicated frame relaycircuit to MERS. The detailed requirements and specifications forregistering eNotes with MERS are covered in the ‘External Systems ImpactAnalysis’ electronic document, which is available from the MERS website: http://www.mersinc.org/download/ereg_impact.pdf.

Generally, embodiments of the present disclosure can provide a methodand system for generating electronic documents that can be authenticatedthroughout the process, organizing and coordinating the secure reviewand processing of the electronic documents into packages that can bemanaged, organizing and coordinating the management of signers for agiven signing space, organizing and coordinating the secure process forsigner review of electronic documents, organizing and coordinating thesecure creation and management of signing spaces, organizing andcoordinating the issuing and management of digital certificates,organizing and coordinating the legally compliant signing of saidelectronic documents, digitally authenticating and certifying saidelectronic documents, automated registration and recordation of saidelectronic documents, means for secure delivery of said electronicdocuments, and organizing said electronic documents for storage andretrieval and transfer.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for generatingelectronic documents that can be authenticated throughout the process.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for organizingand coordinating the secure review and processing of the electronicdocuments into packages that can be managed.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for organizingand coordinating the management of signers for a given signing space.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for organizingand coordinating the secure process for signer review of electronicdocuments.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for organizingand coordinating the secure creation and management of signing spaces.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for organizingand coordinating the issuing and management of digital certificates.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for organizingand coordinating the legally compliant signing of said electronicdocuments.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for digitallyauthenticating and certifying said electronic documents.

The present disclosure includes concepts and technologies for automatedregistration and recordation of said electronic documents.

The present disclosure includes means for secure delivery of saidelectronic documents.

The present disclosure includes means for organizing said electronicdocuments for secure storage and retrieval and transfer.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can be utilized for numerousreasons and in numerous settings. Additionally, embodiments of thepresent disclosure relate to various processes that include, but are notlimited to, electronic document scanning, electronic documentgeneration, generation of secure digital certificates, coordination ofelectronic document signing processes, digital certification andauthentication of electronic documents, packaging of electronicdocuments, maintenance and transfer of electronic documents, and anyother process that relates to electronic document generation,coordination, and authentication. In some embodiments, systems andmethods disclosed herein are well suited for use with regard to amortgage closing process, which integrates electronic documentgeneration, secure coordination of the signing process for theelectronic documents, and the certification and authentication of theelectronic documents at the culmination of the closing process. Theprocess disclosed herein can hide the complexity of digital signatureand other complex technologies rendering them invisible to the user andin so doing makes the process practical and implementable.

According to some embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed hereinare useable by the mortgage industry/financial services field, as wellas other fields including, but not limited to, law, health care,business, and any other fields needing the electronic documentgeneration, coordination, and authentication systems and methods asdescribed herein. In particular, the systems and methods disclosedherein are suited for use in fields requiring multiple identicalsignatures by multiple parties at multiple locations on multipleelectronic documents, fields requiring secure digital authentication ofelectronic documents, and fields requiring the tracking and electronicdocumentation of an electronic document's signing parties, as well asparties to its ownership, for future reference.

The systems and technologies disclosed herein can be provided via theuse of a digital interface, which can allow for presentation of digitalelectronic documents, organization and coordination of the signing ofsaid electronic documents, elicitation of responses and signatures, andcommunication with systems at other locations. The systems and methodsdisclosed herein also can be customizable and thus adaptable for avariety of electronic document types, number of parties/signers andsigning sequences. Moreover, the systems and methods disclosed hereincan be expandable for use in settings requiring large numbers ofelectronic documents and signatures including, but not limited to,mortgages, complex business transactions, contracts, and any othersimilar electronic document signing process.

The systems and methods disclosed herein can be accessible through anydevice possessing the appropriate hardware capable of operating one ormore systems disclosed herein. Appropriate devices include, but are notlimited to personal computers (PC's), portable computers, hand-helddevices, wireless devices, web-based technology systems, touch screendevices, typing devices, and any other similar electronic device capableof operating a web browser (i.e., Microsoft Internet Explorer, NetscapeNavigator, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.) and equippedwith Adobe Acrobat (pdf), or any other such electronic document reader.Alternatively, the system can operate through proprietary software.Entry of information occurs through input devices including, but notlimited to, mouse/pointing devices, keyboards, electronic pens togetherwith handwriting recognition software, mouse devices, touch-screendevices, scanners, biometric devices and any other similar electronicinput devices known to those of skill in the art.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can work in unison with othernetworked devices, and also works independently on a single device,although operation on a single device limits functionality, especiallywith respect to multiple simultaneous users and communications withother systems. Thus, wired or wireless transmission from the device to acommon server is possible. The data is stored on the device itself, alocal server, a central server via the Internet, or a central datawarehouse outside of a facility. Embodiments of the present disclosurecan allow for simultaneous, multiple users.

Other functions and aspects of the electronic document processing systemdisclosed herein include, but are not limited to, mechanisms forscanning hard electronic documents and converting them into digitalelectronic documents, interfaces for presenting digital electronicdocuments, mechanisms for receiving user information and issuing digitalcertificates, storage mechanisms for storing and retrieving digitalelectronic documents, and organization mechanisms for coordinating thesigning of digital electronic documents across multiple locations.Additionally, the document processing system disclosed herein caninclude a packaging mechanism that stores the certified electronicdocument together with the relevant signature and audit information, andsecures the entire electronic document package with a tamper-evidentelectronic seal.

The document processing system disclosed herein can include a softwareprogram for all of the functions of the electronic document processingsystem, including electronic document generation and conversion,coordination of the electronic document signing process, generation ofdigital certificates, authentication and packaging of the electronicdocument, and managing of the ownership and transfer of digitalelectronic documents.

The software program is accessible through communication systemsincluding, but not limited to, the Internet, Intranet, Extranet, and anyother similar electronic mechanism know to those of skill in the art.Additionally, the software can be interfaced and integrated withcurrently existing software programs such as Microsoft Office, MicrosoftOutlook, and other such business software programs, as well as existingelectronic document storage systems.

In operation, the electronic document processing system involves amethod including the steps of: generating the electronic documentsnecessary for a given transaction, organizing the electronic documentsand parties to the transaction, generating secure digital certificatesfor said parties, coordinating the secure signing of the digitalelectronic documents by said parties, and digitally certifying andpackaging the electronic documents.

The electronic document processing method generally includes navigatingthrough various screens or pages containing electronic documents orrelating to the organization, sequence, conversion, or processing ofelectronic documents. The user or administrator interacts with thesescreens or pages in order to input the relevant information. Forexample, a mortgage closing officer uses the system to select theelectronic documents to be included in a specific mortgage signing, or aborrower clicks on a signature button to indicate his acceptance of theterms of the given electronic document. All parties to a giventransaction log on to the system, and the system coordinates the signingprocess over a communications network such as the Internet, Intranet,Extranet, wireless network and other such communications networks knownto those of skill in the art. By connecting multiple parties to atransaction over a communication network, the system allows a securetransaction to take place without the parties being present at onephysical location. The system then saves all inputted information(electronic documents, signatures, etc.) as well as information relatingto the electronic document signing process (which could include thedate, time, location, and identity of the parties to the transaction) ona central server.

Once all of the steps of the signing process have been completed, thesystem reconfirms the acceptance of all parties to the transaction. Whenthis confirmation is received, the system applies a digitaltamper-evident seal to the electronic documents. The date, time,location, and identity of all parties to the transaction are recordedand stored together with the electronic document package. The electronicdocument is then forwarded to the appropriate electronic documentregistry for registration and indexing.

Although there are numerous embodiments of the present disclosuredisclosed herein, one embodiment provides improved accuracy, efficiency,authenticity, and security of electronic document intensivetransactions, electronic document signing processes, and electronicdocument management.

FIG. 1A represents a process flow diagram of the preferred embodiment.The process begins with the system retrieving existing electronicdocuments from a data server, importing external electronic documentsfrom another source, or generating new electronic documents by scanningand converting hard electronic documents (1). Hard electronic documentsare scanned into the system with a flat-bed or form-fed scanner, digitalcamera, or other such image capture device, known to those of skill inthe art. Electronic documents are converted to MISMO SMART Electronicdocument format and prepared for application of digital signatures.

The administrator of the transaction then selects and organizes therelevant electronic documents (2). The administrator of the transactionidentifies the parties to the transaction, the electronic documents tobe signed, the time and date of the signing, the sequence in which theparties will sign the electronic documents, and other such settingsrelevant to the execution of the signing, thereby creating an electronicsigning space (3). At this point, the other parties to the transaction,(i.e., borrowers, sellers, notaries, closing agents, and otherelectronic document signers) are prompted (via email, fax, phone, or anyother notification means) to log onto the system to obtain a digitalcertificate and private key, if not done so already, which will be usedto compute digital signatures during the electronic signing process (4).Each signing party's private key is encrypted with a pass phrase knownonly to the signing party. The signing parties to the transaction canthen log onto the system (either via a secured web page, or proprietarysoftware installed on a PC).

The signing process begins when all parties to the transaction log ontothe electronic document processing system (5), either via secured webpage, or proprietary software operating on a PC. All users are connectedvia the Internet, or any other such communications network. If allparties to the transaction (as established by the administrator at (3))are not logged onto the system, the signing space will not be activated.Activation of the signing space also depends on each signing partyhaving a valid digital certificate. Once the signing space is activated,each signer is presented a confirmation page describing the legallybinding nature of the electronic signing process (6). Each signing partyindicates acceptance of the terms of the electronic signing process bysubmitting the private key pass phrase established when the signingparty obtained the digital certificate. If any signing party rejects theterms, the signing will not proceed. Once all signing parties haveconfirmed acceptance, the system presents the first electronic documentto be reviewed and signed (based on the electronic document signingsettings established at (3)) (7). The system then updates the audittrail information stored on the server (8), recording that the presentelectronic document has now begun the signing process. The systemgenerates a PDF view (9) based on the electronic document stored on theserver. This electronic document view is then presented to all partiesof the transaction for review (10). The parties to the transactionreview the electronic document (11), and then click a signing button(12) in the signing sequence established at (3), indicating theiracceptance of the terms described by the electronic document. When eachparty to the transaction clicks his respective signing button, theinformation is communicated to the server, which applies a digitalsignature to the present electronic document using the private keyassociated with the current signer's digital certificate (13). Thissignature is stored in the MISMO SMART electronic document as a W3C XMLdigital signature and reflected in the electronic document in the formof either a watermark (e.g. categories 3 & 4 MIMSO SMART electronicdocument) or a signature line (e.g. categories 1 & 2 MISMO SMARTelectronic document). The audit trail is then updated on the server(14), recording information such as the time, date, and location of thesigning, as well as the identity of the party. Each party to thetransaction proceeds through this signing process (beginning at (8)) foreach electronic document to be signed. When all parties to thetransaction have completed the signing of one electronic document, thesystem selects the next electronic document to be signed (7), based onthe electronic document signing sequence established at (3). The systemoperates in this fashion until all electronic documents in the signingsequence have been signed by all parties. Alternatively, the system canbe configured to allow for a “one-click” signing process, whereby theparties to a given transaction can digitally sign a series of electronicdocuments with one digital signature click.

The system does not operate unless all parties have signed all relevantelectronic documents in sequence. Thus, a given party cannot proceed tosign the next electronic document until all parties have signed thecurrent electronic document. If one or more parties to an electronicdocument do not sign an electronic document within the given time (asestablished at (3)), the entire signing process (or, alternatively, thesigning of that specific electronic document) is cancelled and theelectronic documents destroyed.

After all parties to the transaction have signed all of the electronicdocuments in the signing process, the system prompts each signer toconfirm again his/her understanding and acceptance of all the terms ofthe transaction (15). Each signer indicates final confirmation bysubmitting the private key pass phrase established when the digitalcertificate was issued. (15). The process will not complete unless allsigning parties accept final confirmation.

After final confirmation by all signing parties, the transaction is thenautomatically registered with the appropriate local, state, federal, orother registry (20) via an electronic registration, email, fax, or othersuch correspondence, thereby completing the process. Moreover,authoritative electronic document copies are registered and maintainedby the system until such time that they are transferred to anotherparty.

At any point during the process, any party to the transaction may electto cancel the entire transaction. The party clicks on a cancel button(21), indicating the party's desire to cancel the transaction. The partyis then presented with a request for confirmation (22), in which theparty can elect to confirm the cancellation, or to return to thetransaction. If the user confirms the cancellation, the entire signingprocess is terminated, and all electronic documents in the process(signed and unsigned) are destroyed. If the user elects to return to thetransaction, the user is returned to the most recently viewed electronicdocument screen.

A logical architecture of one embodiment of the present disclosure isset forth in FIG. 2A. The parties to the transaction interact with thesystem via remote PC's, which connect to a server via the Internet,Intranet, or other such communications network. Each remote PC interactswith the server via a web browser (i.e., Microsoft Internet Explorer,Netscape Navigator, etc.) and a digital electronic document viewer(i.e., Adobe Acrobat Reader, etc.) for viewing and interacting withelectronic documents. Alternatively, the system could display theelectronic documents using XML, HTML, or any other such electronicdocument format, thereby eliminating the need for Adobe Acrobat Reader.Additionally, the system can also operate over a proprietary softwareprogram, thereby eliminating the need for a web browser altogether.

The remote PC's interact with the server via secure network connections.Example server platforms include Linux with Apache 2.0 web, MicrosoftWindows 2000 Server with IIS 6.0, or other such server platforms knownto those of skill in the art. The server contains the electronicdocument signing space, which includes the electronic document package,as well as the settings established for the electronic document signing.The electronic document package contains the dynamic (PDF) view of theelectronic documents, the audit trail (containing the relevantelectronic document history) and the digital signature certificates.

FIG. 3 represents the logical composition of an electronic document. Theelectronic document includes the relevant electronic document andtransaction data associated with the electronic document, the digitalsignature certificates associated with the electronic document, theaudit trail containing the recorded history of the electronic document,and the electronic document view. The electronic document view containsthe reference PDF file, representing the template of the electronicdocument, populated with the appropriate information relevant to thepresent transaction. The electronic document view also contains asignature line that conveys the relevant digital signature certificatesassociated with the electronic document. When viewed through anelectronic document viewer (i.e., Adobe Acrobat), the electronicdocument is rendered as a visual representation of the presentelectronic document, complete with a visual representation of therelevant parties' signatures, and the time and date of the signing.

FIG. 4B represents the customization tool for managing the electronicdocument signing process. The administrator of the transaction(typically a mortgage closing agent) utilizes this tool to manage theparties to a given transaction, the electronic documents to a giventransaction, and the specific settings relating to a given transaction.The administrator can add, delete, and modify parties to a transaction,select which electronic documents are to be signed during a givensigning process, and modify the sequencing of the electronic documentsto be signed and the parties to sign them.

The actual electronic document signing space is depicted in FIG. 5A. Allparties to a transaction interact with this screen during the signingprocess. The signing space contains the dynamic view of the electronicdocument to be signed, as well as a menu bar containing informationrelevant to the electronic document signing process. The menu barcontains a list of the required signers to the electronic document, andindicates the status of each signer (i.e., has not signed, awaitingsignature, already signed, etc.). The menu bar further reflects thesteps of the signing process (i.e., login, read instructions, signelectronic documents, etc.), and indicates the current state of thesigning process, as well as which electronic documents have been signed,and which remain to be signed. Also included in the menu bar is anaction menu, which includes the relevant executable actions on thepresent electronic document, such as expand electronic document view,and cancel all electronic documents. The signing space further includesa signing button that conveys the state of the given parties signing ofthe given electronic document (i.e., has not signed, awaiting signature,already signed, etc.), and prompts the user to click the signing button,if applicable.

Automated Fool-Proof Process for Signing Electronic Documents

The systems and method disclosed herein allow coordination andmanagement of a mortgage closing process, facilitation of digitalsigning of electronic documents, packages the electronic documents andautomatic registration of the signed electronic documents electronicallywith the Mortgage Electronic Registration System. The concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein include processes, computer systems andsoftware for performing the paperless closing process. The systems andmethods disclosed herein may work in concert with a pre-existing eVaultor other registration systems and governmental agencies for electronicrecordation. Although the disclosed example relates specifically toresidential mortgage loan relationships, it will be apparent to those ofskill in the art that the concepts and technologies disclosed herein areapplicable to other transactions and contract situations, includingother types of loans for other types of purchases, settlementnegotiations, and other agreements, particularly those benefiting from asequential signature process.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, automation is used to allowthe Software Application to control the majority of the process andpreferably control the entire process. With this embodiment of theprocess, the system or a person sets up or configures the entire processin advance to make the process idiot-proof. For example, prior to aclosing session, all electronic documents are pre-loaded in thesoftware. The order of electronic documents is predetermined in theconfiguration before any party goes to a closing table. Once the processis configured in advance, the entire process is automated, to minimizeerrors, to prevent omitted electronic documents, to generate ONLY ACOMPLETE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT SET. Quality control can be assured byusing the process of this embodiment. Quality control assures that 1)Electronic documents are signed in specified order; 2) Each electronicdocument is signed by all appropriate parties with appropriatesignature; 3) All electronic documents are signed; 4) A notary observesthe entire closing; and 5) Backdating and other such nonsense isprevented. Additionally, all electronic documents to be signed areincluded in a list on the screen. As the process progresses, thelocation of the electronic document presently in process of being signedis highlighted or otherwise displayed different from the otherelectronic documents in the list on the screen so that it is alwaysknown with what electronic document in the process you are at. In someembodiments, for example, a tool bar can be displayed for indicating apoint in the signing process (e.g., the status bar can display text suchas, for example, “You are viewing document number one out of eight totaldocuments in your document signing session”). Additionally, oralternatively, the status bar can display a completion percentageassociated with the document signing session (e.g., the status bar candisplay text such as, for example, “You have reviewed and signed twentypercent of the eight total documents in your document signing session”).Additionally, or alternatively, the status bar can display a list oftasks associated with the document signing session and/or indicate acurrent task (e.g., the status bar can display text such as, forexample, “Enter Your Signature,” “Click Here to Sign,” “Click Here toInitial,” etc.). Because other status associated with a currently vieweddocument and/or the document signing session are possible and arecontemplated, it should be understood that these examples areillustrative, and therefore should not be construed as being limiting inany way. All electronic documents that have been signed can be viewedthroughout the continuation of the signing process.

Electronic documents are presented during the process in the orderspecified by the system or person that configures the process. Thisembodiment is geared so that it is much less likely in a normaloperating environment to make errors or to generate an electronicdocument set that is missing an electronic document. Although it ispossible that the configuration person could make a mistake, which couldhappen on very rare occasions, it is less likely with this process andmethod. For example, the configuration person, who would generally dothis process often, would use the same or similar list of electronicdocument types for each type of electronic document set. There may beseveral combinations of electronic documents used together. Theconfiguration preparer can take advantage of these sets of combinations.This can also be automated so electronic document combinations can beverified through computer comparisons to help eliminate errorpossibilities.

With this embodiment of the process, it is preferably set up so that nostep may be left out and if any party misses a step, takes too long orotherwise does not complete the process, the process terminates and maydelete any and all electronic documents that were electronically signedin the session. Although the process may have variations and parts of itmay be omitted in other types of applications and uses, the followinglist of steps may be included in the residential mortgage industry;

Steps of the Process 1. Generating Appropriate Data to Make anElectronic Document Package and a Workspace

The Broker/Lender can order an electronic document set. This electronicdocument set then may be uploaded to an electronic workspace whereinadditional processing would occur in a secure yet collaborativeenvironment. These electronic documents that are uploaded wouldautomatically identify the appropriate signers for each electronicdocument.

2. Finalizing the Electronic Document Package with Additional Processing

The electronic documents, having been originally uploaded to a secure,collaborative workspace, are then made available to appropriate partiesfor inspection and verification. These parties would include, forexample, the Lender, the Broker, the Title Company, and the closingagent. Each of these parties would review the electronic documentsplaced into the workspace and add any additional electronic documentsneeded for the closing. This can be done manually through a userinterface or automatically through an interface. These electronicdocuments can be Title Company electronic documents like the TitleInsurance and/or Lender electronic documents like the original 1003(URLA—Universal Residential Loan Application). There may also beelectronic documents that were placed in the workspace during theoriginal electronic document selection that would be removed, forinstance an electronic document like the closing instructions might havebeen included so that the closing agent has appropriate instructions forperforming the closing, but it is an electronic document that theborrower is not meant to sign. Thus closing agents might copy or printelectronic documents for their own use, then delete from the workspaceso it would not be included in the closing. There may be some back andforth electronic document changes and discussions between the Lender andthe Broker and the Title Company and the Closing Agent. The uploadprocess during this stage of adding electronic documents would include astep to either automatically or manually identify the appropriatesigners for each electronic document being added.

3. Appropriate Parties Certifying that Electronic Documents are Correctand Thereby Create a Signing Space

Once the Lender and/or Broker and/or Title Company and/or Closing Agentand/or Notary are in agreement that the all electronic documents arepresent, complete, in correct form, have correct parameters, areerror-free, in the correct order and ready for processing, then one ormore of them sign off on it which will then create an appropriateSigning Space. This approval process can be done in a number of ways.For example: one or more parties digitally sign screen-text thatspecifies their approval of the package to proceed to closing, with thissign-off stored within the Repository. Alternatively, each page of eachelectronic document can have a marking as a header, footer or anywherein between indicating that all parties at the signing approve ofwording. This marking can be a logo of each, or an alphanumeric phraseor combination of each. A small watermark may be used. With this mark oneach electronic document, the borrowers are assured that the electronicdocuments that they are viewing are approved electronic documents. Theagreed upon electronic documents may be stored in a vault withelectronic signatures or accompanied with an Affidavit stating that theelectronic documents are to be used in an electronic document signingsession and that both Lender and Closing Agent agree. Alternately, thecomputer can make two of each electronic document, one with the Lender'sand Closing Agent's electronic signatures and/or watermarks and aduplicate may be automatically generated in the process that is to beused by the signers. Any combination of the above may be used and otherways of performing this step of the process may be used so long as it isclear that the agreed upon appropriate party/parties confirms that theappropriate electronic documents are included.

4. Signers Preparing for Signing Space by Having the Identification andAuthentication of Signers Prepared by the Registration Authority andSigners Get Issued Digital Certificates if they do not Already have One

During the process of Electronic document Selection and Processing, allappropriate signers to the Electronic documents were confirmed to existin the Workspace, or were added so that they existed within theWorkspace. Generally, the Notary and Closing Agent involved in anyclosing will make certain they have a digital certificate for signingpurposes prior to the Signing Space being completed. In order for themto create digital certificates, they will go through the Identificationand Authentication process handled by an approved RegistrationAuthority, usually the Registrations Authority for a Notary or ClosingAgent will be a Title Company or Lender.

For other signers, for example the borrower or seller, digitalcertificates will be created at the time of the actual closing. This canbe done either over the phone, online, or face-to-face depending of thelevel of certificate needed for the electronic documents to be signed.In a residential mortgage loan closing, a face-to-face meeting willoccur wherein the Registration Authority will confirm the Identity ofthe signer, Authenticate the signer, and then cause the signer to obtainfor themselves a digital certificate.

In one embodiment, the concepts and technologies disclosed hereinfacilitate the process of issuing digital certificates, whichtraditionally requires a subject/applicant to seek out a certificateauthority (CA) and purchase a digital certificate of the appropriatetype. In the preferred embodiment, each signer is issued a digitalcertificate, at no cost to the signer, by a self-contained CA server andpublic key infrastructure. Following signer authentication, each signerlogs into a certificate creation station using credentials supplied bythe lender/closing agent/notary. The signer is presented the certificatesubject distinguished name, which is defined using information about thesigner. Notaries must include commission or “seal” information includingcommission expiration and county of issuance. The signer verifies thesubject distinguished name and then supplies a confidential pass phrase(known only to the signer); the pass phrase is used to encrypt thecertificate private key. The encrypted private key and the certificateare stored in the application's database. According to variousembodiments, the certificates issued by the self-contained CA server arenot usable in a context outside of the various embodiments disclosedherein.

The validity periods of signer certificates may be configured accordingto signer type. For example, borrower and seller certificates can beconfigured to be valid for 30 days or even 24 hours. It is desirable,however to configure notary and closing agent certificates to be validfor a period of 6 months or more since notaries and closing agentsparticipate in the signing process on a regular basis

5. All Signing Parties Authenticating Themselves into the Software andUse their Pass-Phrase or Other Means of Authentication to Sign Off onConsent then all Signing Parties Proceed to Sign Electronic DocumentsUsing the Pre-Configured Features Built into the Software

The closing table(s) is/are prepared in the following way. There can bemore than one closing table as this process can be performedsimultaneously in many locations, cities, states, countries, from seaabove or below water, from a vehicle, from an airplane, spaceship, (fromanother planet, from an asteroid, or a moon). This process can simply beperformed from any location that can physically connect to the othercomputers through the internet, phone, radio, cable, wire, fiber optics,cell phone or other means of communication. In the best form of thisembodiment, a notary public would be present at each closing table.Often, the Closing Agent may be a notary public. In preparation forclosing, a lender/broker will require that the signers sign an Affidavitor Declaration in wet ink stating that they consent to use electronicrecords and electronic signatures in place of paper electronicdocuments. Some of the legal forms, such as the Affidavit help bind thisprocess together and are shown in tables and Figures as examples.

All signers are present at the closing table, with the exception ofpossibly the lender, and preferably with a notary present at eachclosing table. Although the process could be completed without thenotary at the closing table, having a notary at each closing tableprovides the greatest assurance that the process is done properly. Onenotary may be present at multiple locations by using a video phone orother device. At the closing table, the process is automated using thesetup configuration certified in step 3. As stated, oftentimes it isefficient and cost effective to use the same person for the ClosingAgent and Notary.

At the closing table, the application is initialized with the signingspace that corresponds with the electronic document package to besigned. However, the signing space will not be activated until allrequired signers login to the signing space. Immediately followinglogin, signers, including borrowers, sellers, notaries and closingagents, are presented with a legal notice describing the signing processand its legally binding nature. Each signer indicates assent to thelegal notice by entering the digital certificate private key pass phraseestablished when the certificate was issued (per step 4). The passphrase is used to decrypt the signer's private key, which is used todigitally sign electronic documents. The process will not continue untilall signers successfully indicate assent.

Continuing the process, the software application, already configured,chooses electronic documents to display in the order that was alreadyspecified in advance. For every signature, there is a place where theuser clicks. The signature may be done in alternative ways that do notdeviate from the concepts and technologies disclosed herein. Just toname some examples, one may use a pointing device such as a mouse,electronic pen, other pointing device, the enter key, any key on thekeyboard (for example the key of the first or last name of a signer, oreach signer can be assigned a different key of a keyboard, a palm-printreader, a thumb-print reader, a foot-pedal, a voice-recognition soundgenerated by the voice-print of each signer, an eye-scan, a wirelessgenerated signal, any variation of these ideas, or any device notmentioned in existence or ones that are not yet in existence at the timeof this writing. There could be a special device made for such a signinginvolving switches, mice, push-buttons. It could even be that eachsigner is given their own mouse or other device to avoid error or anypossibility that signers can get mixed up. In this case, it could evenbe made where only the mouse of the person whose turn it is to sign isactive at any given time. One can use a Fingerprint Reader such as thatsold by Microsoft used for logging on without requiring passwords orpass phrases, however, instead of using the fingerprint to log on, touse the fingerprint to indicate an electronic signature, or to replace apass phrase. Another way that is a new innovation of the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein is that a different color is shown on thescreen for each signer with or without their name on the screen as seenas reference numerals 506, 510 and 514 in FIG. 10 . It is difficult toshow as color Figures may not be used in patents, so it can be statedthat each occurrence when it is time for a signer to sign, the screenmay have a big box or other shape on the screen to be clicked by theappropriate signer, and it is this box or shape that can preferably havea different color for each signer as well as spelling out the signer'sname in each box to be clicked. In fact, not only will each box be adifferent color for each signer, but each user will have a uniquesignature button box color to click throughout the session. In thisexample, the notary may always use the color white.

Lenders typically are not present at the closing table, but are requiredto sign various electronic documents. Part of the package configurationmay include issuance of a digital certificate to a lenderrepresentative. Where necessary, a digital signature can be applied onbehalf of the lender representative, by the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein, to appropriate electronic documents after all othersignatures are applied.

Although the signers may be given advance copies of each electronicdocument, the process should be such that any signer can view any signedelectronic document at any time during the process.

If any signers leave the process, then the process ends and must bestarted over another time. Alternately, it could be made to have acontinuation, for example after lunch break or other break. The processcould be frozen to be re-activated later, for example, where each signeruses his or her pass-phrase or other code used to reactivate after lunchor break. Some electronic document signing sessions may have a verylarge number of electronic documents and may take a full day or morethan one day. Such sessions reinitialize only after all partiessuccessfully enter their pass-phrases when prompted.

After all signers have signed all of the electronic documents in theelectronic document package, the system prompts each signer to confirmagain his/her understanding and acceptance of all the terms of thetransaction. Each signer indicates final confirmation by againsubmitting the private key pass phrase established when the digitalcertificate was issued. The process will not complete unless all signingparties accept final confirmation

6. Distributing Signed Electronic Documents

Following final confirmation, the transaction is then automaticallyregistered with the appropriate local, state, federal, or other registryvia an electronic registration, email, fax, or other suchcorrespondence, thereby completing the process. Moreover, authoritativeelectronic document copies are registered and maintained by the systemuntil such time that they are transferred to another party.

The preferred embodiment already has been described as a process withvarious steps. To clarify the process, FIGS. 4 through 13 illustrate thesteps of the process.

Examples of Screens of the Preferred Embodiment

There are various screens that can be used in the preferred embodimentshown in FIGS. 4 through 13 . These screens of this embodiment may havevariations and are not limited to what is shown in the screens asvariations may be used in the concepts and technologies disclosedherein. The purpose of the screens is to show how the softwarefunctions. It is the intention of the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein that the end-users will know where they are in thesoftware at any time to make the software user-friendly and everyattempt has been made to accomplish this as seen in the screens. Itwould have been nice if larger representations of the screens could beshown in the patent application to make the print larger and moreread-able, however, due to the size requirements of the U.S. PatentOffice, the screens and the print are about as large as is permitted.

Electronic Document Repository Manager

FIG. 6 shows a computer screen of the Electronic document RepositoryManager indicated by reference numeral 10. Reference numeral 20 refersto the title of the XYZ Advantage Mortgage LLC eMortgage repositorywhere electronic documents are electronically stored as displayed on thescreen. This may be done, for example, in a place where data is stored.However, for extra security so that the data will survive catastropheand acts of G-d, data may be stored in a location inside a mountain in aremote area. Such data storage may cost more money; however, it is worththe extra cost as these are important electronic documents. Referencenumeral 30 shows how the web address where the data is stored isdisplayed on the screen. Reference numeral 40 indicates what filedirectory is being represented on the screen. Reference numerals 50 and51 show two of the available directories, in this example named “03” and“06.” Reference numeral 60 is darkened and says “links,” and the linksare listed below, for example reference numeral 61 is home, referencenumeral 62 is “eMortgage WorkSpace,” reference numeral 63 is “eMortgageClosing Table,” reference numeral 64 is “eMortgage Repository” andreference numeral 65 is “Logout.” Reference numeral 70 is the darkenedarea “Actions” which include reference numeral 71 is “Start,” referencenumeral 72 is “Manage Electronic documents (eVault)” and referencenumeral 73 is “Secure Delivery.”

If one is to click directory “06” of FIG. 6 represented by referencenumeral 51, a chosen directory therein is shown in FIG. 7 . Theelectronic document repository manager screen 100 is shown in FIG. 7 .Reference numeral 101 shows an electronic document set “test.xml,”reference numeral 102 shows the electronic document set “W 9 Borrower2.XML,” reference numeral 103 shows the electronic document set “W 9Borrower 1.XML,” reference numeral 104 shows the electronic document set“Correction Agreement Limited Power of Attorney.XML,” reference numeral105 shows “Choose All” and reference numeral 106 shows “Clear All.”Reference numeral 107 shows the web site address. Reference numeral 108is a box next to the line “test.xml,” reference numeral 101. If onelooks at the electronic document repository manager screen 100, one cansee that each electronic document set has a box next to it. One of thefeatures of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein that makes ituser-friendly is how easy it is to use and understand how the softwareoperates for a person using it. These boxes, which are used to chooseone or more electronic document sets, show a good example of how thesoftware is used. With a click of the mouse or other pointer device, an“X” or check-mark is placed in the box to indicate chosen electronicdocument sets. Once the end-user chooses the electronic document set(s)he then has to click to choose those electronic document sets.

Managing Packages

FIG. 8 shows a computer screen 200 of the Package Manager. Referencenumeral 201 shows that this screen is used to “Manage Packages.” This iswhere packages are chosen for use, edited or otherwise managed.Reference numeral 202 shows the address of the packages being managed,reference numeral 203 shows “XYZ Mortgage—eMortgage WorkSpace,”reference numeral 204 shows package ID 950390 representing loan number90028 at 1200 W. Lake Street that was prepared on Jun. 28, 2004 and thetime is shown. Reference numeral 205 shows package ID 462280representing loan number 100003 at 257 Michigan Ave. that was preparedon Jun. 28, 2004 and the time is shown.

The Signer Manager

FIG. 4A shows screen 300 of the Signer Manager. The Signer Manager isused to add signers for loans or other electronic document signing.Reference numeral 301 shows the box where data entry is done on signersto be added. The signing window has two tabs 302 for electronicdocuments as chosen in FIG. 4B and 303 for Signers as chosen in thiselectronic document as can be seen as the tab 303 is darker than the tab302 in FIG. 4A. To add a signer, simply fill in the data in the box 301and then click the add button 305. To edit a signer, select one from thelist of signers 310-313 and click the edit icon 316. Each signer 310-313has its own trash can icon, edit icon, and view certificate icon. Forexample, for one signer 310 named Notary Nick, there is an associatedtrash can icon 315, edit icon 316, and view certificate icon 317. Toselect an existing signer, click the select button 304. The names of thesigners are below name 306. Also shown on the screen 300 are the packageID 307, the Loan Number 308 and the Property Address 309. Just as withmost of the other parts of the package, with a minor amount ofmodification, the signer manager may be used with many electronicdocument signing applications besides loans and mortgages and aredescribed for use in loans and mortgages as an example.

The Electronic Document Manager

The electronic document manager screen 350 is shown in FIG. 4B. Thesigner box 359 lists all signer names with a box 351 next to each name.This way, since not every signer will sign every electronic document,the preparer will configure in advance of signing who will sign eachelectronic document. This is done by clicking the electronic document tobe configured, then clicking whichever boxes 351 signify the appropriatesigners for that specific electronic document. However, many electronicdocuments are pre-set and are signed only by certain parties all thetime as is the case of many electronic documents from the library ofelectronic documents. However, new electronic documents that are addedare configurable as to who signs them. Even the pre-set electronicdocuments can be made configurable, if desired. The browse button may beclicked to find more electronic documents and then the add button 352 isclicked to choose a given electronic document. Reference numeral 353 isa header for Electronic document Name and all the electronic documentnames of the electronic document set are listed below it. As moreelectronic documents are added the list grows accordingly. Also theorder of electronic document signing at the closing table is configuredin this electronic document manager screen 350. The list of electronicdocument names 353 are shown in sequential order. The order may bechanged, however. Each electronic document name 353 has an up-arrow 354and a down-arrow 355. To move an electronic document higher in theorder, click the up-arrow of the electronic document. To move anelectronic document lower in the order, click the down-arrow of theelectronic document. As an example for two electronic documents inelectronic document manager screen 350, reference numeral 357 shows theelectronic document titled “U.S. Patriot Act Signature AffidavitBorrower 1” and reference numeral 358 shows the electronic documententitled “U.S. Patriot Act Procedures for Opening a New Acct.” After thepreparer has finished configuring and choosing electronic documents, heclicks the done button 356.

Although the electronic document manager screen 350 shows an example ofhow to use the processes disclosed herein to configure what electronicdocuments are used and who the signers are of each electronic document,this process can have other methods of configuration, for example, dragand drop, highlighted boxes, tables, a split-screen system, amulti-screen system, just so long as the configuration is done inadvance of the closing table.

The Signing Space Login

FIG. 9 shows the screen 400 that shows the Signing Space Login. Thisscreen shows the company name and welcomes parties to the closing tablein the message 401. At this point the username 402 and password 403 areentered, typically by the closing agent. The required signers block 404is highlighted on the screen and the actual required signers are listedbelow as reference numbers 405, 406 and 407. As the required signers arelisted, it is clear that the data are already configured. Note that theword Login 409 has darker letters indicating that this is the currentstep.

Legal Notice and Confidentiality Page

The Legal Notice and Confidentiality Page 500 is a legal notice thatshould be read by all users prior to going further in the software. Thelist of electronic documents for the closing table are listed atreference numeral 501, however, there is a slide bar in the software, asnot all electronic documents are shown in the visible portion of thescreen in the list indicated by reference numeral 501. The legal notice502 is posted. Reference numerals 503, 507 and 511 list the signers.Reference numerals 504, 508 and 512 show the word “Passphrase:” andbelow are the boxes 505, 509 and 513 where each signer at the closingtable enters a Passphrase. The boxes 506, 510 and 514 are to be clickedby each signer. It is preferable to have a notary present to witness thesigning. Each electronic document in the list indicated by referencenumeral 501 has a mark 515 that indicates it is not done yet. After eachelectronic document is digitally signed, the mark 515 changes to adifferent mark. The “Review Instructions” bar 516 is in darker print asthis is the current step. Also, note that the signers 517-519 for thisclosing table are listed in the upper left.

Electronic Document Signing

FIG. 5A shows a screen 600 displaying an electronic document. Referencenumeral 601 is a darkened bar saying “steps.” The steps below, Login andReview Instructions, have marks 602 and 603 to the left, indicating thatthese steps have been completed. The step Sign Electronic documents isin darkened or bold letters to indicate that this is the current step.Also, the mark 604 indicates that this is the current step. Markings 605and 606 indicate that the last two steps have not yet been complete.Reference numeral 607 says “Signers” in a gray box and below it is alist of signers. Smith, John is in darker letters indicating that he isthe current signer and also has a marking 608 also indicating that he isthe current signer. Smith, Mary is marked lighter, thus indicating thatMary Smith is not the current signer and also the marking 609 next toMary Smith also indicates that she is not the current signer. The wordElectronic documents is in a gray box 610 and below the gray box 610 isa list of electronic documents to be used at the closing table. The topitem on the list, “Fixed Rate Balloon Note” is in darker letters andthus is indicated as the current electronic document. Furthermore, it isknown that this is the current electronic document because marking 611indicates that this is the current electronic document. Marking 612, isthe kind of marking used for an electronic document that is not thecurrent electronic document. Reference numeral 613 indicates SigningSpace as current. Reference numeral 614 is a box that says “requiredSigners” and these required signers are listed below starting withsigner 619. Reference numeral 615 lists the title of the electronicdocument, “balloon note.” Reference numeral 616 is a statement that thesigner has read the electronic records and will use it in place of ahandwritten signature and will be bound by it when he clicks the box 617below it. Reference numeral 618 is a number associated with theelectronic document. This electronic document is ready for beingdigitally signed.

FIG. 11 shows a digitally signed electronic document 700. Referencenumeral 701 shows that this electronic document has been digitallysigned by John Smith. Reference numeral 702 shows that this electronicdocument is waiting to be digitally signed by Mary Smith. Line 703 ispart of the electronic document. Reference numeral 704 is above thenames of the signers. Reference numeral 705 shows John Smith in lightcharacters indicating that he is not the current signer while referencenumeral 707 shows Mary Smith in darker characters indicating that she isthe current signer. Reference numeral 708 shows “Sign Electronicdocuments” in darker characters indicating that this is the currentstep. Reference numeral 709 shows “Fixed Rate Balloon Note” in darkercharacters, indicating that this is the current electronic document.Reference numeral 710 shows the next electronic document that is not thecurrent electronic document as it is displayed in lighter characters.The digital signatures are not done here in watermark, thus indicatingthat the electronic document is category 1 SMARTDOC.

FIG. 12 shows a digitally signed electronic document 800. The watermark801 represents that a digital signature has been made, thus indicatingthat the electronic document is a type 3 or 4 SMART electronic document.Reference numeral 802 indicates that Notary, Jeff is the current signerand box 808 is to be clicked by him to be digitally signed by him.Reference numeral 803 indicates that “Sign Electronic documents” is thecurrent step as it is in the darkest characters whereas 804 and 805 arein lighter characters and thus are not the current step. Referencenumeral 806 indicates that “Compliance Agreement” is the currentelectronic document. Reference numeral 807 is the statement indicatingthat the signer agrees that by clicking the box 808 that he hasdigitally signed the electronic document.

FIG. 13 shows one of the final screens 900 of one embodiment of theconcepts and technologies disclosed herein. The screen 900 shows a legalnotice 920 with legal text 921 for the final confirmation 901 that eachsigner willingly consents to the electronic disclosure and applicationof electronic signatures to electronic records. After this step, theprocess is finished 902. The address 940 is displayed on the screen 900.On the screen 900, all signers 903, 907 and 911 are required to read thelegal notice 920 with the legal text 921 to confirm that the process hasbeen acceptable. If everything has been acceptable, then each signerseparately, one at a time, enters his/her Passphrase 904, 908 and 912 inthe boxes 905, 909 and 913, respectively. If the closing session is notacceptable to any signer for any reason, he/she may click the cancel alloption 930 to cancel the entire closing and all electronic documentsthat have been digitally signed. After this final confirmation step 901has been completed, the next step, “finished” 902 is performed, afterwhich the process closes, in this example.

How the Software Example Works The Electronic Documents SMART ElectronicDocuments

The concepts and technologies disclosed herein can leverage the MISMO(Mortgage Industry Maintenance Organization) SMART Electronic documentspecification. SMART is an acronym for Securable, Manageable,Archive-able, Retrievable, and Transferable. The specification, based onXML, is a general-purpose, flexible technology that can be used toimplement any paper electronic document in electronic format. It bindstogether the data, page view, audit trail and signature(s) into a singleelectronic file. There are five distinct SMART Electronic documentcategories.

At a minimum, all SMART Electronic documents in the eMortgage Studiohave header, signature and audit sections. Each category isdistinguished by data and view sections. At the time of this patentapplication, the five distinct SMART Electronic documents are asfollows;

Besides the minimum, category 1 SMART Electronic documents have bothdata and view sections. Data section elements are ARC'd to elements inthe view section. An XML ARC is a link or reference from one electronicdocument element to another. The view section of the cat 1 is definedwith XHTML.

Besides the minimum, category 2 SMART Electronic documents have only aview section. The view is defined with XHTML.

Besides the minimum, category 3 SMART Electronic documents have bothdata and view sections, although data are not ARC'd to the view. Theview of a cat 3 is base64 encoded PDF, TIFF, JPEG, GIF or any other fileformat that can be used to represent an electronic document.

Besides the minimum, category 4 SMART Electronic documents have only aview section. The view of a cat 4 is defined the same as cat 3-base64encoded such as PDF or TIFF. Other examples of formats are PSD, PDD,BMP, RLE, DIB, CRW, WEF, RAF, ORF, CIN, SDPX, DPX, FIDD, GIF, EPS, PS,FLM, JPG, JPEG, JPE, PSB, PDP, PCX, PCD, RAW, PCT, PICT, PXR, PNG, SCT,TGA, VDA, ICB, VST, WBMP and WBM. There may be other formats availablethat exist now or in the future that may be used with embodiments of theconcepts and technologies disclosed herein.

Besides the minimum, category 5 SMART Electronic documents only have adata section and are typically used for transmitting loan information toloan servicing systems. Clearly Category 5 electronic documents wouldnever be used where a view is necessary.

For the sake of presenting a consistent view regardless of SMARTElectronic document category, all views are presented to signers in PDFformat. Category 3 and 4 SMART Electronic documents, in the currentembodiment, have base64 encoded PDF views that are base64 decoded on thefly and streamed to the Adobe Reader browser plug-in when the view isrequested. Category 1 and 2 SMART Electronic documents have XHTML viewsthat are converted to PDF on the fly using the Apache SoftwareFoundation's FOP (Formatting Objects Processor) library.

Electronic Document Preparation System

Applicant's company had previously developed an electronic DOCUMENTPREPARATION SYSTEM (DOCPREP) which is a software package used for inputof electronic document information with a regular library of electronicdocuments. DOCPREP includes several electronic document templates forelectronic documents that are to be used frequently. These often-usedelectronic documents are generally fixed, although they can be modifiedin some circumstances. DOCPREP acts as a mail-merge for electronicdocuments involving data entry of fields such as names, addresses, loaninformation, and other variables specific to the parties and to theloan. Although DOCPREP is used by Applicant, there are similar dataentry packages that may be used for data entry. DOCPREP is used as anexample for purposes of describing the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein in additional detail.

DOCPREP may be used for data entry of electronic documents. Whenelectronic documents are generated this way, digital signatures may beconveyed within the electronic document in a normal print, in aconvenient location for category 1 SMART Electronic documents as seen in701 of FIG. 11 . This is one way of entering data and printingelectronic documents using the software disclosed herein. However, thisconvenience is not always possible with category 3 and 4 SMARTElectronic documents, which use graphic or proprietary electronicdocument file formats as opposed to XHTML. Consequently, for suchelectronic documents, a watermark is used to indicate that a digitalsignature has been executed as seen in reference numeral 801 of FIG. 12. However, in a set of electronic documents for a closing, there can bea mixture of various category electronic documents in the set. Thesoftware disclosed herein can be is programmed specifically for eachcategory. Just as DOCPREP is one tool used herein, watermarks also canbe used in conjunction with the concepts and technologies disclosedherein.

Electronic Signatures

Electronic document signatures are industry standard W3C XML digitalsignatures that are typically computed over data and/or view sections,but can include other electronic document sections as well, includingother signatures. According to the SMART Electronic documentspecification, category 1 and 2 signatures are explicitly conveyed inthe SIGNATURE SECTION subsection of the XHTML view. The views ofcategory 3 and 4 electronic documents cannot be altered, however, asdoing so would invalidate any previously computed digital signatures.The signatures of category 3 and 4 electronic documents are conveyedwith a watermark that is applied on the fly when the electronic documentview is requested. See FIG. 12 . Watermarks are applied to cat 3 and 4docs using the iText PDF library. Watermark text that identifies signersis based on the subject DN of signer certificates.

EMORTGAGE STUDIO™ SOFTWARE

Applicant has developed a software package called EMORTGAGE STUDIO™SOFTWARE which can be used as an example of use of the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein. HYPERTEXT is a markup language. HTML is astandard web language. HTML is a subset of SGML, the standard generalmarkup language. Markup is a special code that describes how text shouldbe represented or processed.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a subset of SGML. XML is morepractical and robust than HTML and Applicant believes that a type of XMLknown as XHTML will eventually replace HTML.

How EMORTGAGE STUDIO™ SOFTWARE Works

EMORTGAGE STUDIO™ SOFTWARE is written mostly in JAVA, which is not onlya computer language, but an architecture/environment. EMORTGAGE STUDIO™SOFTWARE uses SMARTDOCS which, in this example, are generated byELECTRONIC DOCUMENT PREPARATION SYSTEM or DOCPREP developed by thecompany of the Applicant. ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT PREPARATION SYSTEM is usedfor data entry of information used in SMARTDOCS. Category 1 SMARTDOCSmay use a template from FANNIE MAE in some cases. DOCPREP has anelectronic document generator to generate PDF files, files that wereoriginally associated with ADOBE ACROBAT and now are commonly generatedwith other software. The DOCPREP PDF files are converted to SMARTDOCS bybase64 encoding the PDF file and storing the result in the view sectionof category 3 and 4 SMARTDOCS. The most robust way of preparing digitalelectronic documents for the EMORTGAGE STUDIO™ SOFTWARE is to useDOCPREP for electronic document preparation because it includes a dataentry interface for maintaining buyer and seller information.

Actually, there are two types of PDF files, those that can be read astext and those that can only be read normally as graphic images.Obviously, those that can be read as text are easier to work with.DOCPREP generates PDF files. JAVA is used to manipulate files to becomeSMARTDOCS. Base64 code is known to one skilled in the art and is used torepresent binary data using common, printable characters includingpunctuation and keyboard characters. In JAVA, to present a base64encoded PDF view on a screen, one would “base64 de-code” it, ortranslate it from base64 code to binary code. Base64 encoding/decodingis used for Category 3 and 4 SMARTDOCS. In JAVA, to show these on ascreen, the program would contain <view> base 64 encoded characterstrings </view>. Thus, the above would be used to show a PDF file, aTIFF file or other graphic file on the screen. Category 5 SMARTDOCS haveno view and is used for transmitting data.

W3C XML Digital Signatures

W3C is the Worldwide Web Consortium where W3 is short for the term www.W3C is an international group that maintains Internet standards, whichare published currently at http://w3c.org/. One standard that W3Cdefined is the standard requirements representing a digital signatureusing XML.

DOCPREP Used in EMORTGAGE STUDIO™ SOFTWARE

With DOCPREP, electronic documents may be prepared with an automaticelectronic document system such as DPS DIRECT-DOCS® made by Applicant'scompany. Alternately, the preparer may upload electronic documents.Currently PDF is supported, however, it is not limited to PDF electronicdocuments. Other formats that may be used include TIFF, PSD, PDD, BMP,RLE, DIB, CRW, WEF, RAF, ORF, CIN, SDPX, DPX, FIDD, GIF, EPS, PS, FLM,JPG, JPEG, JPE, PSB, PDP, PCX, PCD, RAW, PCT, PICT, PXR, PNG, SCT, TGA,VDA, ICB, VST, WBMP and WBM. Future formats that do not exist at thetime of this writing may also be used.

Digital Certificates

Digital certificates are used in PKI or Public Key Infrastructure andare based on asymmetric key pairs. One key is private and the other keyis public. The key pairs are mathematically related such that one keyencrypts data that only the other key can decrypt. So, when youdigitally sign, you verify that 1) someone has the public key and 2) ifyou can decipher, then by definition, the private key is correct and theperson has legitimate access.

To digitally sign a block of data, one must compute a “hash” of the dataand then encrypt the hash with the private key of a digital certificate.A hash is a compressed numerical representation of data. Verifying asignature requires decrypting the encrypted hash with the digitalcertificate's public key, computing the hash of the data and comparingthe 2 hash values.

Part of the W3C specification for XML digital signatures (at the time ofthis writing) requires storage of both the digital signature, computedusing the private key of a digital certificate, and also the digitalcertificate containing the public key corresponding to the private keyof the certificate. In this fashion one can verify the stored signaturewithout concern for finding the public key—it can be self-contained. TheEMORTGAGE STUDIO™ SOFTWARE automatically verifies digital signatures.

Other Variations of the Present Disclosure and Unlimited Possibilities

Of course, there are other screens that could have been made that do thesame thing as the screens shown in this process. Each screen could havebeen slightly different, for example, the list of electronic documentsand steps that has been shown on the left could have been instead placedon the right, or in the middle, or in a different window on a secondcomputer screen. Then the electronic documents can be shown in largerview on one computer screen while the indicators can be shown on anotherscreen. A big screen could be used, for example that of a very largemonitor or a big screen TV so that the electronic document signing canbe viewed clearly by all parties. The big screen could have multiplewindows or multiple big screens could be used. There is no limit on howthis process can be implemented. Although the screens have beendeveloped in a user-friendly and organized fashion, with the look andfeel shown in FIGS. 4-13 , the processes disclosed herein can beimplemented with screens that are less user-friendly and less organizedwithout taking away from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.There are infinite possibilities on how the processes disclosed hereincan be practiced. One of the key features is the automation. Another isthe advance configuration of the electronic document signing table thatallows the automation to be done and thus errors are minimized andprecious time of all parties is saved, which also results in costsavings. Although digital signatures have been done before, it is thepackage, the pre-configuration, the automation, the process and thehiding of the complexities and impracticalities of PKI based digitalsignatures that make it a pioneer patent. The screens help the user(s)navigate through the process with little difficulty and this is anenhancement, especially with regard to the simple, easy to use digitalcertificates. According to some embodiments, the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein can be used to save hours of time over theyears, resulting in savings in costs for electronic document signing forclosing of loans, contracts that involve multiple electronic documents,peace treaties, international agreements, real estate transactions,legislation and any multiple electronic document transaction whatsoever.

The concepts and technologies disclosed herein can be used for varioustransactions as noted above. In some embodiments, the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein can be used to enable signing of documentsthat are required for transactions (but are not necessarily transactiondocuments themselves). For example, embodiments of the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein can be used to sign documents needed ordesired for a loan approval or credit approval process (e.g.,authorizing a credit check, expressing an interest in a transaction,making an offer, accepting terms, or the like). Thus, a signedelectronic document may be used to indicate consent to a credit check,in some embodiments. It should be understood that credit checks may beapproved (and performed) as part of other transactions such as otherfinancial transactions, hiring processes, and the like, and as such,embodiments of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein may beused to obtain a signature to indicate consent to a credit check for anypurpose including, but not limited to, a loan approval process, a creditapproval process, a hiring process, a clearance (e.g., securityclearance) process, a bar admission process, a certification process,combinations thereof, or the like.

In some other embodiments, the concepts and technologies disclosedherein can be used to process electronic transfers of funds or otherassets from one account to another. Thus, for example, embodiments ofthe concepts and technologies disclosed herein can be used to obtainlegally binding (or not binding) signatures of users or other entitiesas part of an approval process to send funds (e.g., money) or otherassets (e.g., credit, bitcoins, cryptocurrency, or the like) from oneuser or account to another account or user. As such, it can beappreciated that signing a document as illustrated and described hereinmay be completed as part of a transaction, as preparation for atransaction, to express interest in a transaction, combinations thereof,or the like. Also, embodiments of the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein include signing documents to effect or requesttransfers of funds or other assets (e.g., money, credit, bitcoins, orthe like) from a first location to a second location. It should beunderstood that these examples are illustrative, and therefore shouldnot be construed as being limiting in any way.

As used in the claims, the phrase data storage location refers to aportion of storage within a storage device. As such, it should beunderstood that multiple data storage locations, as recited in theclaims, can refer to multiple portions of a single device (e.g., amemory, a hard drive, a database, a server, or the like), two or moreportions of a single instance of media (e.g., a hard disk drive, acompact disc or the like), and/or two or more portions of two or morestorage devices or storage media. Thus, for example, a document can bestored in a first data storage location and populated with data from asecond data storage location, wherein the first data storage locationcan correspond to a first portion of a memory or other data storagedevice and wherein the second data storage location can correspond to asecond portion of the same memory or other data storage device. Thus, itcan be appreciated that the phrase data storage location as used in theclaims may not refer to a stand-alone storage device, but to a locationwithin or a portion of a storage device, or the like. In the claims, thephrase data device is used to refer to a stand-alone storage device(e.g., a hard disk drive, memory, server, database, computing device,medium, or the like). As such, a first data device and a second datadevice may be used in the claims to refer to two separate devices, eachof which stores data.

Also, it should be understood that a processor, memory, and the like, asused in the claims, can include unitary devices and/or distributedcomputing resources. Thus, a processor can include a distributedcomputing resource that provides processing capability, a singleprocessing unit, and/or other types of circuits that can provideprocessing capability as generally is understood in the art.

Future Evolution

In the future, there will be new kinds of pointing devices that do notexist at the time of this patent application that may be incorporatedinto embodiments of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein.According to some contemplated embodiments, a wink of the eye can begiven the effect as clicking a mouse, for example, in some devices madefor the disabled. Of course other inputs may be obtained viatouchscreens, gestures, facial movements, voice commands, combinationsthereof, or the like. Also, it should be understood that the documentsigning technologies illustrated and described herein can be combinedwith block chain technologies to authenticate the documents and/or thedocument signing session. For example, in some embodiments a block chaincan be maintained for the document signing session wherein, for example,the block chain can be updated each time a document is initialed,signed, packaged, and/or otherwise interacted with. Thus, a documentsigning session can be self-authenticating, in some embodiments. Itshould be understood that this example is illustrative, and thereforeshould not be construed as being limiting in any way.

Similarly, some, all, or none of the technology existing for thedisabled now and in the future may be used with embodiments of theconcepts and technologies disclosed herein. For example, in the future,new kinds of screen devices, monitors, TVs may be available, and largerscreens will be available at a lower price than at the time of thiswriting, thus making it more practical to project a larger image formultiple signers. Image projectors may be used to project images on awall or other surface. At the time of this writing, WINDOWS XP is apopular operating system for a microcomputer. However, in time, newoperating systems will replace WINDOWS XP, with more features and powerso that the processes disclosed herein can be made to work better andfaster. Faster computer CPUs, chipsets and memory chips have beendeveloped for better speed of both computers and of computer graphicadapters. Newer CPUs will have more instructions that will be takenadvantage of by future operating systems and languages. Although, Javais a popular language used on the internet today, new hybrids of Javawill develop and even completely new languages may be developed that canbe used. Computer language is not a limitation herein, as any computerlanguage may be used, present, past and future languages when practical.Although it is not known what new developments of hardware and softwarewill be available in the future, these all may be incorporated withvarious embodiments of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein.Thus, as technology advances, the concepts and technologies disclosedherein can improve as well and therefore may not become obsolete. Allthese new devices and things are to be incorporated in the presentdisclosure so that the concepts and technologies disclosed herein can beused with some of the hardware, software and operating systems of thefuture and the concepts and technologies disclosed herein are notlimited by the choices of computer hardware, software and operatingsystems available at the time of this writing. It should be understoodthat the various components of the various embodiments disclosed hereincan be combined in any manner without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure and the claims appended hereto. The futureapplicability of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein has nolimits or bounds except for the limits imposed in the legal standards ofelectronic signatures which may also change in the future. This conceptsand technologies disclosed herein are able to function within any suchlegal standards of the future both nationally and internationally.

The present disclosure has been described in an illustrative manner, andit is to be understood that the terminology used is intended to be inthe nature of words of description rather than of limitation. Obviously,many modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possiblein light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood thatwithin the scope of the appended claims, the concepts and technologiesdisclosed herein may be practiced otherwise than as specificallydescribed.

Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that systems andmethods for providing paperless mortgage closings and other transactionshave been disclosed herein. Although the subject matter presented hereinhas been described in conjunction with one or more particularembodiments and implementations, it is to be understood that theembodiments defined in the appended claims are not necessarily limitedto the specific structure, configuration, or functionality describedherein. Rather, the specific structure, configuration, and functionalityare disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustrationonly and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications andchanges may be made to the subject matter described herein withoutfollowing the example embodiments and applications illustrated anddescribed, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of theembodiments, which is set forth in the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a first devicecomprising a processor; and a memory that stores instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising obtaining, by the first device and from a second devicecomprising a first data storage location via a first secure networkconnection, an electronic document that is to be presented as part of asecure signing session, obtaining, by the first device and from a thirddevice, information associated with a signer that is to sign theelectronic document during the secure signing session, populating, bythe first device, the electronic document with a signature field that isbased on the information, establishing, by the first device, the securesigning session, wherein the secure signing session is established via asecond secure network connection between the first device and acomputing device associated with the signer, providing, to the computingdevice and via the second secure network connection, display data thatcorresponds to a display of the electronic document and the information,wherein a web browser executed by the computing device renders thedisplay data in a user interface that comprises the display and a userinterface option that is selectable at the computing device to effectdigital signing of the electronic document at the first device, inresponse to detecting selection of the user interface option, altering,at the first device, the electronic document and the information toobtain an altered version of the electronic document and theinformation, wherein the electronic document and the information arealtered by adding, at the first device, an electronic signature to theelectronic document, and storing, by the first device, the alteredversion of the electronic document and the information, the alteredversion of the electronic document and the information comprising theelectronic signature.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronicsignature is added to the electronic document and the information withdata that represents a time and date associated with addition of theelectronic signature to the electronic document.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the user interface further comprises a status bar thatdisplays a current task associated with the secure signing session. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface further comprises astatus bar that displays progress associated with the secure signingsession.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure signing session isassociated with a loan application or a credit application.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein altering the electronic document and theinformation comprises computing a hash of the electronic document andthe information and encrypting the hash using a private key.
 7. A systemcomprising: a first device comprising a processor; and a memory thatstores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to perform operations comprising obtaining, by the firstdevice and from second device comprising a first data storage locationvia a first secure network connection, an electronic document that is tobe presented as part of a secure signing session, populating theelectronic document with a signature field that is based on informationassociated with a signer that is to sign the electronic document duringthe secure signing session, establishing the secure signing sessionbetween the first device and a computing device associated with thesigner via a second secure network connection, providing, to thecomputing device and via the second secure network connection, displaydata that corresponds to a display of the electronic document and theinformation, wherein a web browser executed by the computing devicerenders the display data in a user interface that comprises the displayand a user interface option that is selectable at the computing deviceto effect digital signing of the electronic document at the firstdevice, in response to detecting selection of the user interface option,altering, at the first device, the electronic document and theinformation to obtain an altered version of the electronic document andthe information, wherein the electronic document and the information arealtered by adding, at the first device, an electronic signature to theelectronic document, and storing, by the first device, the alteredversion of the electronic document and the information, the alteredversion of the electronic document and the information comprising theelectronic signature.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the electronicsignature is added to the electronic document and the information withdata that represents a time and date.
 9. The system of claim 7, whereinaltering the electronic document and the information comprises computinga hash of the electronic document and the information and encrypting thehash using a private key.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein the userinterface further comprises a status bar that displays progressassociated with the secure signing session.
 11. The system of claim 7,wherein the secure signing session is associated with a transfer ofcryptocurrency.
 12. The system of claim 7, wherein the secure signingsession is associated with a credit approval.
 13. A device comprising: aprocessor; and a memory that stores instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprisingobtaining, from a first data storage device and via a first securenetwork connection, an electronic document that is to be presented aspart of a secure signing session, populating the electronic documentwith a signature field that is based on information associated with asigner that is to sign the electronic document during the secure signingsession, wherein the information is obtained from a second data storagedevice via a second secure network connection, establishing the securesigning session, wherein the secure signing session is established via athird secure network connection between the device and a computingdevice associated with the signer, providing, to the computing deviceand via the third secure network connection, display data thatcorresponds to a display of the electronic document and the information,wherein a web browser executed by the computing device renders thedisplay data in a user interface that comprises the display and a userinterface option that is selectable at the computing device to effectdigital signing of the electronic document at the device, in response todetecting selection of the user interface option, altering, at theelectronic document and the information to obtain an altered version ofthe electronic document and the information, wherein the electronicdocument and the information are altered by adding an electronicsignature to the electronic document, and storing, by the device, thealtered version of the electronic document and the information, thealtered version of the electronic document and the informationcomprising the electronic signature and data that represents a time anda date of signing the electronic document.
 14. The device of claim 13,wherein altering the electronic document and the information comprisescomputing a hash of the electronic document and the information.
 15. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein altering the electronic document and theinformation further comprises encrypting the hash using a private key.16. The device of claim 13, wherein the secure signing session isassociated with a loan closing.
 17. The device of claim 13, wherein theuser interface further comprises a status bar that displays a number ofdocuments associated with the secure signing session and a documentbeing viewed.
 18. The device of claim 13, wherein the user interfacefurther comprises a status bar that displays a number of tasksassociated with the secure signing session and a task being completed.19. The device of claim 13, wherein the electronic document isassociated with a financial transaction.
 20. The device of claim 13,wherein the electronic document is associated with a contract.